Documentation/git-clone.txt

   1 git-clone(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
  13           [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
  14           [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
  15           [--separate-git-dir|-L <git dir>]
  16           [--depth <depth>] [--recursive|--recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
  17           [<directory>]
  18
  19 DESCRIPTION
  20 -----------
  21
  22 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  23 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  24 (visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
  25 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  26 currently active branch.
  27
  28 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  29 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  30 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  31 current master branch, if any.
  32
  33 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  34 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  35 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  36 configuration variables.
  37
  38
  39 OPTIONS
  40 -------
  41 --local::
  42 -l::
  43         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  44         this flag bypasses the normal "git aware" transport
  45         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  46         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  47         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  48         to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
  49         the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
  50         syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
  51         copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
  52         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
  53         but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
  54         mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  55
  56 --no-hardlinks::
  57         Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  58         local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  59         directory.
  60
  61 --shared::
  62 -s::
  63         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  64         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  65         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  66         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  67         starts out without any object of its own.
  68 +
  69 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  70 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  71 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  72 other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  73 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  74 These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as `git commit`)
  75 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  76 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  77 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  78 +
  79 Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  80 cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  81 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  82 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  83 default.
  84 +
  85 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  86 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  87 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  88
  89 --reference <repository>::
  90         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  91         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  92         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  93         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  94         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  95         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  96 +
  97 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
  98
  99 --quiet::
 100 -q::
 101         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 102         error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 103         command when given.
 104
 105 --verbose::
 106 -v::
 107         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 108         to the standard error stream.
 109
 110 --progress::
 111         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 112         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 113         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 114         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 115
 116 --no-checkout::
 117 -n::
 118         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 119
 120 --bare::
 121         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
 122         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 123         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 124         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 125         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 126         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 127         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 128         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 129         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 130         configuration variables are created.
 131
 132 --mirror::
 133         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 134         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 135         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 136         remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 137         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 138         target repository.
 139
 140 --origin <name>::
 141 -o <name>::
 142         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 143         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 144
 145 --branch <name>::
 146 -b <name>::
 147         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 148         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 149         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 150         be checked out.
 151
 152 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 153 -u <upload-pack>::
 154         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 155         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 156         run on the other end.
 157
 158 --template=<template_directory>::
 159         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 160         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 161
 162 --depth <depth>::
 163         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 164         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 165         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 166         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 167         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 168         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 169         as patches.
 170
 171 --recursive::
 172 --recurse-submodules::
 173         After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 174         using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 175         `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 176         the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 177         repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 178         `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 179
 180 -L=<git dir>::
 181 --separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
 182         Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
 183         to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
 184         then make a filesytem-agnostic git symbolic link to there.
 185         The result is git repository can be separated from working
 186         tree.
 187
 188
 189 <repository>::
 190         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 191         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 192         repositories.
 193
 194 <directory>::
 195         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 196         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 197         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 198         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 199         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 200
 201 :git-clone: 1
 202 include::urls.txt[]
 203
 204 Examples
 205 --------
 206
 207 * Clone from upstream:
 208 +
 209 ------------
 210 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 211 $ cd my2.6
 212 $ make
 213 ------------
 214
 215
 216 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 217 +
 218 ------------
 219 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 220 $ cd ../copy
 221 $ git show-branch
 222 ------------
 223
 224
 225 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 226 +
 227 ------------
 228 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 229         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 230         my2.7
 231 $ cd my2.7
 232 ------------
 233
 234
 235 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 236 +
 237 ------------
 238 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 239 ------------
 240
 241
 242 * Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus:
 243 +
 244 ------------
 245 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 246     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 247 ------------
 248
 249 GIT
 250 ---
 251 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite